


I Knew I Loved You

by dreaminkwaii



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Markhyuck Month
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-03
Updated: 2019-07-03
Packaged: 2020-06-03 10:34:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19462183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreaminkwaii/pseuds/dreaminkwaii
Summary: What happens when a stray puppy you had been caring for suddenly arrives at your doorstep in human form, nonetheless.That's what happened to Mark Lee.





	I Knew I Loved You

**Author's Note:**

> 3/7/2019 - Markhyuck month!
> 
> For those who don't know, this is just a small celebration I did for my birth month (and also the month between Markhyuck's birthdays). I'll be posting (I hope so) short fics per day based on songs that I had picked.
> 
> 〖Today's playlist〗  
> ↠ Savage Garden // I Knew I Loved You

_I knew I loved you before I met you_

_I think I dreamed you into life_

_I knew I loved you before I met you_

_I have been waiting all my life_

The pleasing melody of a sweet song can be heard through a boy’s tangled earphone, his eyes were closed as he basked in the warm sunshine of midday June. He hummed the tune of the song, feeling small licks on his fingers. He let the small licks continue on before opening his eyes and bent down, patting on the small, fluffy puppy. The puppy wagged its tail, pleased Mark is showing him the love and attention it desired.

Mark took a quick glance to his phone, noting on the clock as it was almost time for his afternoon classes. “I gotta go now, little guy. See you when I see you.” Mark bid his goodbye to the small puppy, earning a small whine from it. The whine touched Mark’s heart, making him a little guilty for leaving the puppy behind. In his attempt to lessen their feelings, Mark made a proposal, “You know what, after class, I’ll come and pick you up. We’ll go to a special place.” With a little pat, Mark left the puppy behind and rushed to his class.

Hours on hours of learning, seeing nothing but numbers and symbols were breaking Mark’s concentration. His mind was full of the little fluff ball he had taken care of for over a week now. It was a shame that his place forbade pets into the apartment; the only reason why he couldn’t bring the puppy home. Mark planned on taking the puppy to a dog’s park after class, and the thought of the puppy wagging its tail in excitement put a smile on Mark’s face.

Class ended and he wasted no time to get to the puppy, only to be disappointed by the absence of it. He called on for it several times, worry starting to take over him. The puppy rarely ventured far like this and only one possible thing that could happen to the puppy; the guard drove it away. With his head hung low, Mark walked back to his apartment.

As soon as he reached his home, an unfamiliar figure was seen crouching down in front of his door, hugging their knees close to their chest. Puzzled, Mark slowly approached the person, giving a little tap on their shoulder. “Can I help you?” The person lifted their head and Mark was mesmerized. Cute, round eyes, pouty lips, and a fluffy brown hair. The guy reminded Mark of the little puppy that he cared for. An inaudible wow escaped his lips.

The guy’s face lit up; a beaming smile shined on his beautiful face. “You’re finally home!” His arms wrapped around Mark’s neck, squeezing him in a tight hug. Pulling away, Mark could see a hint of pink on his dimpled cheeks. “I um… I’m the puppy you’ve been taken care of.”

Mark’s face fell as he heard one of the most absurd things ever. _You’re telling me, a grown male like yourself, is that puppy? And you think I’ll believe that?_ Mark quickly walked past the guy and unlocked the door to his apartment. “I’m sorry. I’m not interested in whatever you’re scamming, I mean selling.” Mark closed his door before the boy had any time to reply to Mark. He had a long day, his wonderful plan with the puppy got ruined and he surely wasn’t in the mood to entertain a con artist.

Mark bet by night-time, the weird guy would have gone away, but reality betrayed his expectation as the guy was still crouching down in front of his house. He was hungry and dealing with the weird fellow could be done after filling his stomach. As Mark opened his apartment’s door, they both stared at each other, not uttering a single word. “You can come in.” Mark broke the silence and left his door wide open for the stranger to come in.

The stranger walked in and the smell of instant noodles wafted through the air.

“Sorry, man. I don’t cook so…” Mark left his words in trail, serving a cup noodle to him. “Oh wait.” Mark stopped, “Or do you only eat dog food? I have a can if you’d like.”

“N-no it’s okay. This is fine.” The stranger replied.

“Right… You’re a human now.”

Both of them ate their noodles in silent, only the sound of chewing and slurping could be heard. Mark let down his empty cup, staring intently at the weird stranger he just let into his house.

“You’re telling me, you’re the puppy from before?”

Hurriedly putting down his cup, the weird guy nodded vigorously. “You said you were going to bring me to a special place, so I thought you were finally adopting me. I wanted to surprise you, so I came earlier than you.” The guy worded his story enthusiastically, Mark could have sworn he saw a tail wagging from behind. “But judging from your reaction, I bet it was not it.” Mark could see his imaginary dog ears plopped down in disappointment.

Mark let out a sigh, “No… I was planning to take you to the park. Besides, my place doesn’t allow pets.”

The stranger looked exactly like a sad puppy, sulking for not getting what he wanted. It was almost too cute for Mark.

“But, now that you’re human, I wouldn’t say they won’t allow you. On a second thought, adopting a human as a pet would be weird.” Mark eyed the boy in front of him, propping his chin on his hand. “Name?”

The stranger’s head shot up, “Uh, um…”

“Right. You’re a stray. You don’t have a name.” Mark went silent for a while, thinking the cutest name to give to the stray. “How about Pudu?”

The boy’s face lit up, happy to hear his own name given by Mark, mouthing it a few times before giving off the most radiant smile Mark had seen. He never knew getting a name would bring so much happiness to someone. “Pudu.”

Clearing his throat to mask his fascination, Mark continued, “You can stay as long as you want.” His declaration earned him a hug from Pudu, and Mark liked how he could feel the warmth of the latter. _I might regret this later but let’s just play along._

+

A few weeks passed and Mark was getting accustomed to living with Pudu. He could cook, does all the house chores and it was sort of comforting to have someone welcomes you home.

“I’ve cut some apples, let’s eat.” Pudu placed a plate of cut apples on a small Japanese table, handed Mark one of the forks before sitting inside Mark’s embrace. Pudu had done this since the day he had arrive and Mark didn’t mind it at all. Mark liked Pudu’s warmth.

“I won’t be home early tomorrow. The class decides to throw a farewell party for one of our professors.” Mark reached out for the apples, feeding them to Pudu before reaching out for another one.

A pout formed on Pudu’s lips, clearly, he hated the idea of Mark going out until late. “Okay.” A simple answer yet the feelings he had was complicated. He couldn’t just tell Mark to not go to the party nor could he join in the party.

Mark noticed his pout and patted Pudu’s head to assure him. “I’ll try to not come back late, okay?”

Mark’s understanding and gentle words had been nothing but a blessing to Pudu. He knew he was far deep in his feelings to back up now. He loves Mark.

+

It was a nice day and Haechan’s class ended with no hitches. In order to calm his rumbling stomach, the growls were audible even in class, he made his way to the university’s cafeteria. On his way there, he heard a cute whimpering from behind the bushes and saw a beautiful poodle puppy. “Hey little guy!” He brushed past the bushes, patting the adorable little dog he just met. “Did someone dump you here?” Picking the dog up and cradled it in his arms, Haechan looked to his left and his right. “No one seems to be looking for you, so I don’t think you’re lost.” He put the puppy down, feeling sorry for it. “I need to go now little guy. Sorry I can’t help you.” He patted the puppy one last time before leaving it there.

The next morning, as he was walking past the place where he had last saw the puppy, he noticed there was a box for the puppy to live in along with a blanket inside, a bowl of dog’s food and some sort of small canopy over the box. “Someone gave you a home!” he excitedly claimed. “They must be a nice person for putting all this effort for you.” A sad smile carved on his face, _I’m sorry I wasn’t kind enough to help you, little puppy. I’m glad someone had found you._ Haechan crouched down to the puppy, rubbing its belly. _It must be nice for someone to extend their hands to you. I wish I can find someone like that too._

Haechan came to visit the puppy again on the next few days, bringing a canned dog food to feed it and a few toys for its entertainment. It had been almost a week since he first saw the puppy and each day, the stranger had taken care of it. He felt it was his responsibility to take care of the puppy as well. “Puppy~” He sweetly called for it but hurriedly stopped in his track when he heard someone from behind the bushes.

“Hey, don’t eat that.” A boy pulled on his earphone from a puppy that had been chewing it, laughing at how it won’t give the wire away.

He hid behind a tree, secretly watching the puppy played with the boy, an adoring smile spread on his face as he felt a pleasant feeling. He saw how the puppy was ecstatic playing with the stranger, and he too wanted to feel his kindness. After that, he had the wildest idea and planned to execute it, weird or not.

+

“Where have you been, Haechan?” The voice at the other end sounded annoyed, “And when are you planning to take back the puppy?”

Mark was coming home late today so Haechan decided to dine outside. With his phone still near his ear, he stopped in front of a family restaurant, a place he frequents to. The place was run by one of his best friends’ family and they give him great discounts. “I’ll take the puppy back sooner or later. Just hang on for a few more days, Jen.”

“You better.” The phone call died with a hiss.

_I hope_. Haechan let out an exasperated sigh. Mark and he had been living together for weeks, and it was hard to juggle between his class and pretending to be a dog. He planned on to just leave but it didn’t feel right for Haechan. He was too far deep into his lies, how was he supposed to tell Mark now?

“Haechan! The usual?” A cheery voice greeted him, throwing him a sweet smile.

“Yeah.” Haechan nodded, fuzzing his hair around in irritation. “Hey, Jaemin. You need a puppy.”

“Um, I think you got the wrong question. Wasn’t it supposed to be ‘hey Jaemin, are you looking to adopt a puppy?’. Jeno told me.”

“No. No. I know what I said. You need a puppy.”

Just as he finished his words, a group of rowdy college students entered the family restaurant. Their chattering was too loud and Haechan had no patience to let this go on further. Haechan turned around to tell them off but his eyes fell on a familiar figure, a figure he had been deceiving for the past weeks. _Why is he here?!_ Haechan ducked his head quickly before Mark could see him.

But Mark was bright. He knew that varsity jacket with big 99 numbers anywhere. It was custom made and it was his. “Pudu?”

“Here you go Haechan, your usual.” Jaemin served him a set of bibimbap complete with side dishes.

“Haechan?” Mark let out with a questionable tone.

“Oh man, Jaems. I gotta go. Be a dear and pack this up for me.” Without giving the time for Jaemin to reply, Haechan stormed out of the restaurant leaving both puzzled Mark and Jaemin.

“I’ll see you at home, _Haechan_.” The words came out of Mark and Haechan wanted to do nothing but disappear from the face of the earth.

+

Mark unlocked the door to his apartment, and the first thing he saw was Pudu, or Haechan, was kneeling by the entryway.

“I am so sorry!”

Mark let out a sigh and walked past Haechan. “Let’s talk inside, I have something to say too.”

So much negative implications were running inside Haechan’s head; Mark asked for compensation from him, Mark kicking him out or worst yet, Mark doesn’t want anything to do with him anymore. The last though put a tear in his eyes.

Another sigh escaped Mark’s lips. “Sit down.”

Haechan did as told, instead of crossing his legs, he thought he deserved to be kneeling in front of Mark. “I’m sorry.” He started. “I’m not a dog, I’m human.”

“I know.”

“Yes, you know but- Wait. You knew?”

“Do you honestly believe I’m gullible enough to accept that lie of yours?” Mark raised his brow, amused to see Haechan’s embarrassed look. “You are Lee Donghyuck, but everyone calls you Haechan. You’re majoring in Music… And you helped take care of the puppy.”

“You knew? But why didn’t you say anything?”

“Why do you think I didn’t say anything?”

“I thought you were really just stupid, but you said you didn’t believe my lie.” Haechan inched closer to Mark, he changed from kneeling to crossing his legs, the guilt was gone after knowing he didn’t deceive Mark at all. “So, why?”

Mark pinched Haechan’s cheeks, a little mad for Haechan’s bold choice of words. “I saw you, you know. The day you picked up that puppy. Call it intuition but ever since that time, my eyes could only see you.” Mark pulled Haechan closer to him, wrapping him in a warm embrace. “And on the day you came to my apartment, this might sound crazy, but I see the missing pieces I’m searching for in your eyes.” Mark finished sweetly, hugging Haechan tightly in his arms.

“Um, Mark. You’re speaking in cryptic. I don’t exactly understand what you meant.”

“And you call me stupid,” Mark whispered endearingly, before planting a gentle kiss to his adorable Pudu.


End file.
